Explorer Kairos Minerals is launching gold drilling at Roe Hills as its second phase of operation following positive initial aircore drilling cobalt results, which are now being dispatched for assaying.

The drilling program will involve two kilometres of reverse circulation drilling across two key targets: Silver Lake Resources’ Aldiss project and the southerly French Kiss.

Drilling will also include extensions to four of the company’s previously commenced operations — Lingering Kiss, Lady of the Lake, Terra and Caliburn — as well as several new, geochemically anomalous test targets, seemingly named after famous Anglo-French literary figures and locations: Quartermaine, Moriarty, Nemo, Nautilus, Avalon and Hyde.

Of the extension sites, Lingering Kiss is particularly prospective, with recent drilling showing gold mineralisation of up to 43.34 grams per tonne.

Lady of the Lake returned a wide gold mineralisation zone of 150 metres by 500 metres, while Terra and Caliburn also showed thick gold mineralisation zones in earlier drilling.

The program is expected to take two to three weeks, with assay results to be returned in early January. Terry Topping, executive chairman of Kairos, hoped the company would build on its previous success.

“Given the exceptional results generated by the previous drilling,” he said, “we are now returning to scope out extensions to some of the more advanced zones and to test some new areas.”

“Roe Hills offers outstanding potential to delineate resources in the near term, as well as to yield further discoveries. The under-explored nature of our tenements makes this a very attractive opportunity for Kairos.”

Kairos Minerals last month secured $7 million of investment to help fund the extension drilling, primarily from Sprott Capital Partners, which owns sizeable stakes in De Grey Mining and Novo Resources.